Like most Americans, I didn't actually see the action-comedy-romance Knight & Day (out on DVD this week from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment) in theaters, but I never would have predicted that the teaming of Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz would have led to one of the summer's highest-profile box office bombs. (Vanilla Sky notwithstanding.) But if pairing two popular movie stars were a guarantee of success, you'd see a lot more one-from-Column-A casting in Hollywood. Here's a look at some other sure-fire pairings that wound up being anything but:
Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan in Proof of Life: He was hot off Gladiator and she was still America's Sweetheart, but nobody wanted to see them in this action/hostage drama. The fact that they'd had a well-publicized extramarital affair during shooting probably didn't help matters, but even on its own, this movie wasn't either actor's finest hour.
Clark Gable and Myrna Loy in Parnell: Legend has it that Gable didn't want to make this movie -- nor did he want to sport the ludicrous fake muttonchop whiskers required to play the famed Irish political figure -- but his bosses at MGM forced him to do both. A rare misfire from the "King of Hollywood" (in an era when that title really meant something).
Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt in The Mexican: As two of many performers in the Ocean's ensemble, they've found success sharing a marquee, but their pairing in this tedious crime farce, which keeps them apart for most of the running time, didn't enchant critics or audiences. Their star wattage accounted for a decent US box office showing of $66 million, but that's far less than its backers no doubt expected to recoup with this toothy twosome in the lead.
Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones in The Terminal: Hollywood's favorite Everyman and Michael Douglas's hot wife (who had just won her Chicago Oscar) in a romcom from Steven Spielberg seemed like a sure thing, but despite OK reviews (and a meticulously recreated airport set), the movie barely eked out more than its budget in US theaters.
Goldie Hawn and Burt Reynolds in Best Friends: This somewhat unlikely pairing came about simply because they happened to be the top-grossing actor and actress of the early 1980s, but their work together in this romcom (about a relationship that's threatened by evolving from shacking-up to wedlock) didn't generate the kind of business that each was doing separately at the time.